What’s Happening This Week: A Kitchen Swap & a Latke Cook-off

December 7, 2009

Our weekly dining and drinking newsletter features all the coolest epicurean events in the city. Sign up for it here!Great Performances Latke Cook-off
Great Performances Kitchen
December 7
If you pride yourself on knowing from latkes, you’ll want to check out this latke cook-off benefiting the Sylvia Center, which teaches kids about farm-fresh food. The event promises to be a celebration of fried potato-y goodness. Chefs representing the Plaza, El Museo del Barrio, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, and Great Performances will go head-to-head to prove themselves praiseworthy and you can be the judge of who wins. At the very least you’ll get a Hanukah recipe or two out of it.

George Mendes/Mike Lata Kitchen Swap
Aldea
December 7
Mike Lata, the chef-owner of FIG (which stands for “food is good”) in Charleston, will be taking over George Mendes’s kitchen at Aldea for one night only. The 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Southeast will cook up a hearty Southern meal as part of a kitchen swap between the two friends. So, instead of Iberian fare, head to Aldea tonight for Country Ham Consomme with Fall Vegetables and Tortellino; Triggerfish with Littleneck Clams, Heirloom Potatoes, Artichoke and Lemon/Parsley Broth; and Boneless Lamb Saddle with Lacinato Kale and Sauce Agrodolce.

Fatty Crab Wine Tasting
Fatty Crab UWS
December 8
Fatty Crab is known for its tasty Malaysian fusion — but its wine list? You bet your sweet (and spicy) ass. The restaurant is hosting its first ever wine tasting and pairing event, featuring 12 selections from its wine list, and small bites from the kitchen. Nibble snacks such as house-cured meats, green mango with chili sugar salt, and tea sandwiches as you sip the likes of Albert Seltz Sylvaner, Kofererhof Muller Thurgau, and Louis Guntrum Riesling.